An Imaginary Pub Crawl - sometime in the 1930s

A lot has been said about the number of Public Houses on the Island, so I thought I would treat myself, and readers, to an imaginary pub crawl with a mate. In my mind’s eye, I invite you to accompany me, and perhaps tell me if I have missed any of the pubs, but please do it early, as the latter part of our trip may be clouded by intoxication!
Having met my fictitious companion in The Gun, we set off to face up to our challenge. After crossing the old cantilever bridge, now superseded by the Blue Bridge, our first stop was The Queen at the junction of Manchester Road and East Ferry Road. Coming out of The Queen, we crossed the road into Stewart Street, to pay our respects with a brief visit to The Prince. Our next call was The Manchester Arms, just a short walk down Manchester Road. To avoid covering the same ground twice and to preserve our energy, we made our way down Galbraith Street, via Launch Street, to East Ferry Road, there to visit The George, once quite a large building.
On leaving The George, we walked along Glengall Road to The London, located on the corner with Manchester Road. As we turned to our right on Manchester Road, the welcome sight of The Dorset Arms came into view - this pub was also known locally as “Jaggers” - I would be interested to know why. On leaving The Dorset we crossed the road for a courtesy call at The Cubitt Arms. Still quite sober, we recrossed the road to pay a visit to The Pier Tavern (where my wife and I held our wedding reception some 50 golden years ago!).

An outing from The Builders' Arms, in Stebondale Street, Cubitt Town, Isle of Dogs about 1920 Third from the right, in the front row, is Herbert Lawrence, of No. 95 Stebondale Street.

With thoughts of saving energy, we ambled off down Pier Street, turned left into Stebondale Street, waited for the No.57 bus to pass, and crossed the road to The Builder’s Arms halfway along the street, opposite Moore’s the bakers on the corner of Bilson Street. We crossed back over the road and walked up Newcastle Street, this road having had two name changes since our visit, the first being Glengarnock Avenue and currently Glenaffric Avenue. We found The Newcastle Arms close to the river bank, then walked along Saunders Ness Road and turned right into Barque Street, heading down a slight incline to “Mac’s”, officially The Princess of Wales.

The Princess of Wales: the last night. This pubwas pulled down in the 1970s to make way for the George Green School. Left to Right: Mrs Muggleton, Ronny Emms (barman) and Daisy Franklin.

Now back in Manchester Road, we took the next turning on our left to walk up Ferry Street and make our way to the Island’s oldest hostelry, The Ferry House, then making our way back to Manchester Road to The Lord Nelson on the corner of East Ferry Road.
Now we left Cubitt Town and headed into Millwall along Westferry Road, which will be the main artery to most of our other intended calling places. Our first pub in Westferry Road is The Ship, soon followed by The Robert Burns. Immediately after we come down the two steps from the Burns, we cross the road, again waiting for a local bus service to pass, the No.56, on its way to the terminus at Mile End. Our next call is at The Great Eastern, on the corner of Harbinger Road, one of many pubs destroyed in the Blitz.

The Vulcan Public house. 1930’s or 1940’s.
Mrs Lou Winch, Mrs Mary Kemp (nee Lynch), Tom Carver, George Kemp, Fred Winch. Tom and Fred worked at Hawkins & Tipson's Rope Works. George worked at Matthew T. Shaw’s Engineering Works.

We cross the road again, this time to The Vulcan, and stay on the left-hand side of the road for The Ironmonger’s, immediately facing Barnfield Colour Dye Works. Continuing on, our nest stop was The Magnet and Dewdrop, shortly followed by The Kingsbridge, just a couple of hundred yards from Millwall Dock Swing Bridge and the lock entrance for ships into Millwall Dock. We cross the bridge and make our way to the Millwall Dock Tavern and Hotel, just outside the Old Bell Gate road entrance into Millwall Dock opposite Fenner’s factory.
At this point, I have the feeling that my companion has not quite honoured our agreement. We had agreed that we would have a sip, if only a small sip, in each pub we visited, so that we could honestly say we had had a drink in every pub on the Island. My colleague, I fear, had been taking larger sips than I had, and he was now asking: How many more are there? About eight, I replied. You must be joking, said he!
Walking in a straight line was becoming something of an effort, but we stayed on the right side of the road and aimed for The Tooke Arms. Leaving The Tooke, we crossed the road to a little-known establishment, The Pin and Cotter close to the riverside. Our next pub was the last one heading north on the left side of Westferry Road - it was The Torrington Arms. Our travels were nearly over. We crossed Westferry Road for the last time. Heading down Havannah Street, a fleeting call at The Pride of the Isle was all we could manage in order to honour our objective.
We continued down to Alpha Grove where we turned left to make our way along to Manilla Street and The North Pole, a graceful sip here and back up to the main road and The Anchor and Hope, turning off to our right into The Blacksmith’s Arms. It was then only a short journey to our ultimate objective, The City Arms.
I explained to my companion, by now totally disinterested, that I had deliberately missed out two off-licences along the route; one on the corner of Strattondale Street/Glengall Road and the other, I believe, in Mellish Street. He said he was overwhelmed by my consideration, frankly, I thought it was something else.
By the way, we started just after 10.30 on that memorable morning, rested while the pubs were shut between 2.30 and 5pm and finished up in the Saloon Bar of the City Arms just after 6.30. By "D.E.R."